As when I was writing about things, I introduced the subject
with a warning against attending to anything but what they are
in themselves, even though they are signs of something else,
so now, when I come in its turn to discuss the subject of signs,
I lay down this direction, not to attend to what they are in
themselves, but to the fact that they are signs, that is, to
what they signify. For a sign is a thing which, over and above
the impression it makes on the senses, causes something else
to come into the mind as a consequence of itself: as when we
see a footprint, we conclude that an animal whose footprint this
is has passed by; and when we see smoke, we know that there is
fire beneath; and when we hear the voice of a living man, we
think of the feeling in his mind; and when the trumpet sounds,
soldiers know that they are to advance or retreat, or do whatever
else the state of the battle requires. Now some signs are natural,
others conventional. Natural signs are those which, apart from
any intention or desire of using them as signs, do yet lead to
the knowledge of something else, as, for example, smoke when
it indicates fire. For it is not from any intention of making
it a sign that it is so, but through attention to experience
we come to know that fire is beneath, even when nothing but smoke
can be seen. And the footprint of an animal passing by belongs
to this class of signs. And the countenance of an angry or sorrowful
man indicates the feeling in his mind, independently of his will:
and in the same way every other emotion of the mind is betrayed
by the telltale countenance, even though we do nothing with the
intention of making it known. This class of signs however, it
is no part of my design to discuss at present. But as it comes
under this division of the subject, I could not altogether pass
it over. It will be enough to have noticed it thus far.
Of the kind of signs we are now concerned with
Conventional signs, on the other hand, are those which living
beings mutually exchange for the purpose of showing, as well
as they can, the feelings of their minds, or their perceptions,
or their thoughts. Nor is there any reason for giving a sign
except the desire of drawing forth and conveying into another's
mind what the giver of the sign has in his own mind. We wish,
then, to consider and discuss this class of signs so far as men
are concerned with it, because even the signs which have been
given us of God, and which are contained in the Holy Scriptures,
were made known to us through men -- those, namely, who wrote
the Scriptures. The beasts, too, have certain signs among themselves
by which they make known the desires in their mind. For when
the poultry-cock has discovered food, he signals with his voice
for the hen to run to him, and the dove by cooing calls his mate,
or is called by her in turn; and many signs of the same kind
are matters of common observation. Now whether these signs, like
the expression or the cry of a man in grief, follow the movement
of the mind instinctively and apart from any purpose, or whether
they are really used with the purpose of signification, is another
question, and does not pertain to the matter in hand. And this
part of the subject I exclude from the scope of this work as
not necessary to my present object.
Among signs, words hold the chief
place
Of the signs, then, by which men communicate their thoughts to
one another, some relate to the sense of sight, some to that
of hearing, a very few to the other senses. For, when we nod,
we give no sign except to the eyes of the man to whom we wish
by this sign to impart our desire. And some convey a great deal
by the motion of the hands: and actors by movements of all their
limbs give certain signs to the initiated, and, so to speak,
address their conversation to the eyes: and the military standards
and flags convey through the eyes the will of the commanders.
And all these signs are as it were a kind of visible words. The
signs that address themselves to the ear are, as I have said,
more numerous, and for the most part consist of words. For though
the bugle and the flute and the lyre frequently give not only
a sweet but a significant sound, yet all these signs are very
few in number compared with words. For among men words have obtained
far and away the chief place as a means of indicating the thoughts
of the mind. Our Lord, it is true, gave a sign through the odour
of the ointment which was poured out upon His feet; and in the
sacrament of His body and blood He signified His will through
the sense of taste; and when by touching the hem of His garment
the woman was made whole, the act was not wanting in significance.
But the countless multitude of the signs through which men express
their thoughts consist of words. For I have been able to put
into words all those signs, the various classes of which I have
briefly touched upon, but I could by no effort express words
in terms of those signs.
Origin of writing
But because words pass away as soon as they strike upon the air,
and last no longer than their sound, men have by means of letters
formed signs of words. Thus the sounds of the voice are made
visible to the eye, not of course as sounds, but by means of
certain signs. It has been found impossible, however, to make
those signs common to all nations owing to the sin of discord
among men, which springs from every man trying to snatch the
chief place for himself. And that celebrated tower which was
built to reach to heaven was an indication of this arrogance
of spirit; and the ungodly men concerned in it justly earned
the punishment of having not their minds only, but their tongues
besides, thrown into confusion and discordance.
Scripture translated into various
languages
And hence it happened that even Holy Scripture, which brings
a remedy for the terrible diseases of the human will, being at
first set forth in one language, by means of which it could at
the fit season be disseminated through the whole world, was interpreted
into various tongues, and spread far and wide, and thus became
known to the nations for their salvation. And in reading it,
men seek nothing more than to find out the thought and will of
those by whom it was written, and through these to find out the
will of God, in accordance with which they believe these men
to have spoken.
Use of the obscurities in Scripture which arise from its figurative
language
But hasty and careless readers are led astray by many and manifold
obscurities and ambiguities, substituting one meaning for another;
and in some places they cannot hit upon even a fair interpretation.
Some of the expressions are so obscure as to shroud the meaning
in the thickest darkness. And I do not doubt that all this was
divinely arranged for the purpose of subduing pride by toil,
and of preventing a feeling of satiety in the intellect, which
generally holds in small esteem what is discovered without difficulty.
For why is it, I ask, that if any one says that there are holy
and just men whose life and conversation the Church of Christ
uses as a means of redeeming those who come to it from all kinds
of superstitions, and making them through their imitation of
good men members of its own body; men who, as good and true servants
of God, have come to the baptismal font laying down the burdens
of the world, and who rising thence do, through the implanting
of the Holy Spirit, yield the fruit of a twofold love, a love,
that is, of God and their neighbour; -- how is it, I say, that
if a man says this, he does not please his hearer so much as
when he draws the same meaning from that passage in Canticles,
where it is said of the Church, when it is being praised under
the figure of a beautiful woman, "Thy teeth are like a flock
of sheep that are shorn, which came up from the washing, whereof
every one bears twins, and none is barren among them?" Does
the hearer learn anything more than when he listens to the same
thought expressed in the plainest language, without the help
of this figure? And yet, I don't know why, I feel greater pleasure
in contemplating holy men, when I view them as the teeth of the
Church, tearing men away from their errors, and bringing them
into the church's body, with all their harshness softened down,
just as if they had been torn off and masticated by the teeth.
It is with the greatest pleasure, too, that I recognize them
under the figure of sheep that have been shorn, laying down the
burthens of the world like fleeces, and coming up from the washing,
i.e., from baptism, and all bearing twins, i.e., the twin commandments
of love, and none among them barren in that holy fruit. But why
I view them with greater delight under that aspect than if no
such figure were drawn from the sacred books, though the fact
would remain the same and the knowledge the same, is another
question, and one very difficult to answer. Nobody, however,
has any doubt about the facts, both that it is pleasanter in
some cases to have knowledge communicated through figures and
that what is attended with difficulty in the seeking gives greater
pleasure in the finding. -- For those who seek but do not find
suffer from hunger. Those, again, who do not seek at all because
they have what they require just beside them often grow languid
from satiety. Now weakness from either of these causes is to
be avoided. Accordingly the Holy Spirit has, with admirable wisdom
and care for our welfare, so arranged the Holy Scriptures as
by the plainer passages to satisfy our hunger, and by the more
obscure to stimulate our appetite. For almost nothing is dug
out of those obscure passages which may not be found set forth
in the plainest language elsewhere.
Steps to wisdom: first, fear; second, piety; third, knowledge;
fourth, resolution; fifth, counsel; sixth, purification of heart;
seventh, stop or termination, wisdom
First of all, then, it is necessary that we should be led by
the fear of God to seek the knowledge of His will, what He commands
us to desire and what to avoid. Now this fear will of necessity
excite in us the thought of our mortality and of the death that
is before us, and crucify all the motions of pride as if our
flesh were nailed to the tree. Next
it is necessary to have our
hearts subdued by piety, and not to run in the face of Holy Scripture,
whether when understood it strikes at some of our sins, or, when
not understood, we feel as if we could be wiser and give better
commands ourselves. We must rather think and believe that whatever
is there written, even though it be hidden, is better and truer
than anything we could devise by our own wisdom. After these
two steps of fear and piety, we come to the third step, knowledge,
of which I have now undertaken to treat. For in this every earnest
student of the Holy Scriptures exercises himself, to find nothing
else in them but that God is to be loved for His own sake, and
our neighbour for God's sake; and that God is to be loved with
all the heart. and with all the soul, and with all the mind,
and one's neighbour as one's self -- that is, in such a way that
all our love for our neighbour, like all our love for ourselves,
should have reference to God. And on these two commandments I
touched in the previous book when I was treating about things.
It is necessary, then, that each man should first of all find
in the Scriptures that he, through being entangled in the love
of this world -- i.e., of temporal things -- has been drawn far
away from such a love for God and such a love for his neighbour
as Scripture enjoins. Then that fear which leads him to think
of the judgment of God, and that piety which gives him no option
but to believe in and submit to the authority of Scripture, compel
him to bewail his condition. For the knowledge of a good hope
makes a man not boastful, but sorrowful. And in this frame of
mind he implores with unremitting prayers the comfort of the
Divine help that he may not be overwhelmed in despair, and so
he gradually comes to the fourth step, -- that is, strength and
resolution, -- in which he hungers and thirsts after righteousness.
For in this frame of mind he extricates himself from every form
of fatal joy in transitory things, and turning away from these,
fixes his affection on things eternal, to wit, the unchangeable
Trinity in unity. And when, to the extent of his power, he has
gazed upon this object shining from afar, and has felt that owing
to the weakness of his sight he cannot endure that matchless
light, then in the fifth step -- that is, in the counsel of compassion
-- he cleanses his soul, which is violently agitated, and disturbs
him with base desires, from the filth it has contracted. And
at this stage he exercises himself diligently in the love of
his neighbour; and when he has reached the point of loving his
enemy, full of hopes and unbroken in strength, he mounts to the
sixth step, in which he purifies the eye itself which can see
God, so far as God can be seen by those who as far as possible
die to this world. For men see Him just so far as they die to
this world; and so far as they live to it they see Him not. But
yet, although that light may begin to appear clearer, and not
only more tolerable, but even more delightful, still it is only
through a glass darkly that we are said to see, because we walk
by faith, not by sight, while we continue to wander as strangers
in this world, even though our conversation be in heaven. And
at this stage, too, a man so purges the eye of his affections
as not to place his neighbour before, or even in comparison with,
the truth, and therefore not himself, because not him whom he
loves as himself. Accordingly, that holy man will be so single
and so pure in heart, that he will not step aside from the truth,
either for the sake of pleasing men or with a view to avoid any
of the annoyances which beset this life. Such a son ascends to
wisdom which is the seventh and last step, and which he enjoys
in peace and tranquility. For the fear of God is the beginning
of wisdom. From that beginning, then, till we reach wisdom itself,
our way is by the steps now described.
The canonical books
But let us now go back to consider the third step here mentioned,
for it is about it that I have set myself to speak and reason
as the Lord shall grant me wisdom. The most skilful interpreter
of the sacred writings, then, will be he who in the first place
has read them all and retained them in his knowledge, if not
yet with full understanding, still with such knowledge as reading
gives, -- those of them, at least, that are called canonical.
For he will read the others with greater safety when built up
in the belief of the truth, so that they will not take first
possession of a weak mind, nor, cheating it with dangerous falsehoods
and delusions, fill it with prejudices averse to a sound understanding.
Now, in regard to the canonical Scriptures, he must follow the
judgment of the greater number of catholic churches; and among
these, of course, a high place must be given to such as have
been thought worthy to be the seat of an apostle and to receive
epistles. Accordingly, among the canonical Scriptures he will
judge according to the following standard: to prefer those that
are received by all the catholic churches to those which some
do not receive. Among those, again, which are not received by
all, he will prefer such as have the sanction of the greater
number and those of greater authority, to such as are held by
the smaller number and those of less authority. If, however,
he shall find that some books are held by the greater number
of churches, and others by the churches of greater authority
(though this is not a very likely thing to happen), I think that
in such a case the authority on the two sides is to be looked
upon as equal. Now the whole canon of Scripture on which we say
this judgment is to be exercised, is contained in the following
books: -- Five books of Moses, that is, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, Deuteronomy; one book of Joshua the son of Nun; one
of Judges; one short book called Ruth, which seems rather to
belong to the beginning of Kings; Next
, four books of Kings,
and two of Chronicles, these last not following one another,
but running parallel, so to speak, and going over the same ground.
The books now mentioned are history, which contains a connected
narrative of the times, and follows the order of the events.
There are other books which seem to follow no regular order,
and are connected neither with the order of the preceding books
nor with one another, such as Job, and Tobias, and Esther, and
Judith, and the two books of Maccabees, and the two of Ezra,
which last look more like a sequel to the continuous regular
history which terminates with the books of Kings and Chronicles.
Next
are the Prophets, in which there is one book of the Psalms
of David; and three books of Solomon, viz., Proverbs, Song of
Songs, and Ecclesiastes. For two books, one called Wisdom and
the other Ecclesiasticus, are ascribed to Solomon from a certain
resemblance of style, but the most likely opinion is that they
were written by Jesus the son of Sirach. Still they are to be
reckoned among the prophetical books, since they have attained
recognition as being authoritative. The remainder are the books
which are strictly called the Prophets: twelve separate books
of the prophets which are connected with one another, and having
never been disjoined, are reckoned as one book; the names of
these prophets are as follows: -- Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah,
Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah,
Malachi; then there are the four greater prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Daniel, Ezekiel. The authority of the Old Testament is contained
within the limits of these forty-four books. That of the New
Testament, again, is contained within the following: -- Four
books of the Gospel, according to Matthew, according to Mark,
according to Luke, according to John; fourteen epistles of the
Apostle Paul -- one to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, one
to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, two to
the Thessalonians, one to the Colossians, two to Timothy, one
to Titus, to Philemon, to the Hebrews: two of Peter; three of
John; one of Jude; and one of James; one book of the Acts of
the Apostles; and one of the Revelation of John.
How we should proceed in studying
Scripture
In all these books those who fear God and are of a meek and pious
disposition seek the will of God. And in pursuing this search
the first rule to be observed is, as I said, to know these books,
if not yet with the understanding, still to read them so as to
commit them to memory, or at least so as not to remain wholly
ignorant of them. Next
, those matters that are plainly laid down
in them, whether rules of life or rules of faith, are to be searched
into more carefully and more diligently; and the more of these
a man discovers, the more capacious does his understanding become.
For among the things that are plainly laid down in Scripture
are to be found all matters that concern faith and the manner
of life, -- to wit, hope and love, of which I have spoken in
the previous book. After this, when we have made ourselves to
a certain extent familiar with the language of Scripture, we
may proceed to open up and investigate the obscure passages,
and in doing so draw examples from the plainer expressions to
throw light upon the more obscure, and use the evidence of passages
about which there is no doubt to remove all hesitation in regard
to the doubtful passages. And in this matter memory counts for
a great deal; but if the memory be defective, no rules can supply
the want.